Colmar Manor claims a slice of Bladensburg Road

Move designed to better control speeders

Colmar Manor has annexed a portion of Bladensburg Road near the Washington, D.C., border in an effort to better enforce traffic laws.

The town council approved a measure Tuesday night that annexes the portion of the road that runs between its intersection with Eastern Avenue and its intersection with 37th Avenue. The town annexed only the road and not the curbs or any property along the road, according to the resolution.

The purpose of the annexation was to better control traffic coming from the District into the county, Colmar Manor Police Chief Fred Keeney said. Prior to the annexation, the town boundary began north of 37th Avenue.

"This gives our officers the ability to do enforcement and create a better impact on public safety from the traffic coming from D.C.," he said.

Speeding is a problem along the stretch of road as drivers enter Maryland from the District, Kenney said. Last year, several serious accidents occurred along the road in which speed was a contributing factor, including some that involved "airborne and flipped-over vehicles," he said.

The annexation goes into effect Oct. 9.

The annexation became necessary after the town founded its own police department two years ago, Colmar Manor Councilwoman Sadara Barrow (Ward 4) said.

"Before we had a police department, we were using off-duty Prince George's County police officers [to patrol the town], and they have authority over that strip," she said. "Now that we have a police department, we don't have authority over that strip."

The annexation measure was introduced this summer.

"It's the responsible thing for us to do, to take control over the strip," Barrow said. "It's just a step in activities we want to take in ensuring protection of everybody in the community."